Shamini 
(C): Twitter
In a significant turn of event, over 1 lakh employees of Karnataka’s four State Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) planned to go on an indefinite strike starting from August 5th. The decision for the indefinite strike was made by the Akhila Karnataka Rajya Raste Sarige Noukarara Mahamandala at a press conference in Hubballi over the non-disbursal of the pending wage arrears and delay in the implementation of the wage revision for 2024.
Why Are RTC Employees Going on Strike?
- The workers are demanding:
- Disbursement of 38 months’ owed wage arrears
- Implementation of 15% wage revision from January 1, 2024
- Termination of cases filed against workers
The union president, K.S. Sharma criticized the state government for not fulfilling its promise in 2023 to revise wages with retrospective effect from 2019. No one has been paid any arrears and the Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah says the government won’t be paying any dues.
What has the Government done since receiving the Strike Notice?
The Karnataka government has allegedly invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in an attempt to avoid any disruption to services. However, union leaders said ESMA will not stop unions from striking, claiming it is an anti-labour action.
General Secretary B. Jayadevaraje Urs noted the irony as the government celebrated the success of the Shakti scheme, the ₹500 crore free rides while RTCs were owed ₹3,000 crore.
What’s the Bigger Picture?
While workloads have increased because of initiatives like Shakti, staff feel unsupported and recognized as overworked. “We’re not slaves, we are workers serving the public,” said Sharma, seeking government respect for the workforce and immediate negotiations.
With no potential for discussion, the strike will significantly affect public transport across Karnataka from August 5.
